Buttonhole-sewing machine.



PATENTED JAN. 13, 1903. J. E. DIMOND. BUTTONHOLE SEWING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED my 2, 1900.

up MODEL.

.llflhmm UNIT D STAT-ES PATENT OFFICEQ JOHN E. DIMOND, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO THE REEOE BUTTONHOLE MAOHIN E COMPANY,

MASSACHUSETTS.

OF PORTLAND, MAINE, AND BOSTON,

BUTTONHOLE-SEWING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0, 718,103, dated January 13, 1903.

Application filed May 2, 1900. i

To all whont it may concern:

Be it known that 1, JOHN E. DIMOND, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Boston, county of Suifolk, and State of Massachusetts, have invented an 1m provement in Buttonhole-Sewing Machines, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like characters on the drawings representing like parts.

This invention has for its object to provide a buttonhole-sewing machine of the classrep resented by United States Patent No. 494,280, dated March 28, 1893, with a pull-oiflit operating after the completion of a buttonhole to pull off from the tension device a suitable amount of slack thread, the stitching mechanism having been stopped and being inactive, the pull-off retaining said thread until the stitch-forming mechanism is started in the formation of an other buttonhole, the pulloff giving up its thread to the first stitch, so that the first stitch in starting a buttonhole is unerringly caught in the material. To enable 2 5 the pull-0E to act after the stitching mechanism has come to rest and take thread from the thread-supply, I have provided means for releasing the tension from the thread, thetension being released after the completion of the buttonhole and before the pull-off acts,

the thread connected with the last buttonhole stitched being cut ofi after pulling off thread suflicient to supply thread for the next buttonhole to be made. 2

Figure 1 represents in front elevation a sutficient portion of a sewing-machine of the class described to enable my invention to be understood, and Fig. 2 is a left-hand side elevation of the parts represented in Fig. 1.

4o Referring to the drawings, arepresents part,

of the stitch-frame, a,-part of the clampframe; I), the needlebar, provided with an eye-pointed needle 6 it forming one member of a stitch-forming mechanism, the other 5 member in practice being an eye pointed thread-carrying looper carried also by the stitch-frame, the said needle-bar and complemental stitch-forming mechanism being all as fully illustrated in said patent, and in prac- Serial No. 151178. (No model.)

,the buttonhole has been completed afasterspeed driving mechanism is putautomatim ally into operation to move the stitch-frame at a faster speed to bring a cutting mechan- 6o ism, fully illustrated in said patent and carried by the stitch-frame, into position with relation to the usual cloth-clamp common to that patent, that the cutting mechanism may be in a position to act after the operator has removed from the clamp the material containing the stitched buttonhole and has put into the clamp the material to be cut and stitched to make a second buttonhole. Herein, as in said patent, the closing of the clamp on the material in which the buttonhole is to be out and stitched starts into operation the cutting mechanism, so that it immediately cuts the buttonhole in the fabric and at the same time the fast-speed driving mechanism for the stitch-frame operates, putting the stitch-forming mechanism has been returned into its starting or operative position for go stitching.

I have not deemed it necessary to show in the present drawings all the parts which will be used in this machine, the same being common to the patent referred to.

The upper portion or arm of the stitch-frame has erected upon it a stand 2, having at one side a hollow slotted projection or sleeve 3,

over which is fitted loosely a tension-wheel 4, one side of said tension-wheel being acted upon by a suitable disk 5, in turn acted upon by a spring 6, under the control of a nut '7, the adjustment of the nut causing the spring to act against the disk with greater or less force to determine the proper amount of tension on the needle-thread. The sleeve and the hole in the stand receive a sliding stud 8, having a head which meets a portion of the disk 5, standingin a slot of the sleeve. Whenever the sliding stud is acted upon positively at its outer end to slide the same in the sleeve, the pressure of the disk is removed from the tension-wheel, leaving the thread Without tension. This tension device, disk, and stud are substantially found in United States Patent No, 457,463, the stud in said patent being operated by a stationary cam. As herein shown, I have provided the stand with a fulcrum 10, which sustains a pull-off 12, represented as an elbow-lever, having at its upper end an eye 13, which is slitted, as at 14, to enable the needle-thread 15 to be readily inserted in said eye.

The stand 2 has a hole in which I have inserted the shank 16 of a thread-rest 17, represented as provided with shoulders l8,which sustain the thread when the needle-bar occupies its lowest position, said threadrest having uprights between which the pull-oft acts when pulling off thread from the tension device.

The take-up lever, herein numbered 19, is in all particulars the same as the take-up used in United States Patent No. 494,280.

The stitch-frame has connected with it by screws 20 a frame 21, which in the best form of my invention presents two sets of guidingsleeves 22 and 23, the sleeves 22 receiving a rod 24, represented as bent at its upper end and connected by a suitable stud-screw 25 with the short arm of the pull-off. A spring 26, surrounding the rod 24 and abutting against one of the sleeves 22 and at its lower end against an adjustable collar 27, acts normally to keep the lower end of the rod 24 against a controlling-plate 28, suitably secured to the clamp-frame a, said controllingplate having an inclined or cam surface 29, (see dotted lines, Fig. 2,) which leads up to a support 30.

The pin 8 of the tension device, through the spring 6, acts against one end of a lever 34, pivotally mounted on the stand 2, and keeps the lower end of a rod 31 extended through the sleeves 23 to remain in contact with the upper side of the controller 28 at one side the surface 29. (Shown by dotted lines),

The drawings show the pull-off in its operative position and the needle elevated and at rest, the said needle audits cooperating stitchforming mechanism having been stopped when the last buttonhole was finished, the stitch-frame having been moved from the position it occupied when the last stitch in the buttonhole was made into its present position, this change of position of the stitchframe putting the usual cutting mechanism, the fulcrum 33 of which is shown in Fig. 2, in position to he started to cut the buttonhole Whenever the usual clamp common to said patent, No. 494,280, is closed.

When the parts are in the position Fig. 2, ready for the operator to close the clamp to start the machine to cut the buttonhole, it will be noticed that the lower ends of the rods 24 and 31 aresustained at the same level by the top 30 of the controller 28, and the tension is released and the pull-off is holding its supply of thread in a loop-form, as represented in Fig. 1 by dotted lines. As the stitch-frame travels backwardly or in the direction of the arrow 42, Fig. 2, after closing the clamp and actuating the cutter to put the stitch-forming mechanism in the proper position with relation to the cut buttonhole to start the stitching, the rods 24 and 31 run down the inclines 29 to put the tension on the thread and cause the pull-off to give up the slack thread to the needle, this being done just as the needle is ready to make its first thrust into the material in the starting of a buttonhole. Giving up the slack thread to the needle at its first thrust enables the needle-thread to be unerringly caught when the first stitch is made, and thereafter during the further operation of stitching the buttonhole the lower ends of the rods 31 and 24 rest on the lower part of the controller 28, insuring the proper amount of tension on the thread, the upper end of the pull-oit standing in its inoperative position substantially at the guide 17. As the stitching arrives at the small end of the buttonhole the rods 24 and 31 are so acted upon in succession that after the last stitch in the buttonhole has been made and the stitch-forming mechanism has been put into its inoperative position the tension device will be rendered inoperative, and the pull-off will be thrown into its operative position,as represented in the drawings, the tension remaining oif and the pulloff holding its slack thread while the stitchforming mechanism and cutter move into proper position to cut a new buttonhole in cloth to be applied to the usual cloth-clamp. When the stitch-forming mechanism arrives in this position, the operator cuts off the needle-thread close to the work and, as stated, the pull-off holds its thread, as shown in the drawings, and the tension is kept off from the thread untilin the movement of the stitchframe and stitch-forming mechanism into starting position the stitch-forming mechan ism is started into operation automatically, as provided for in said patent. At the first stitch made after starting the stitch-forming mechanism, the first stitch in the making of a new buttonhole, the pull-off gives up its thread.

ICC

rod connected with said pull-oft for operating the same, a cam carried by the cloth-frame to move said rod when the needle-bar is elevated and cause said pull-oft to act and pull thread from the tension device.

2. In a buttonhole -stitching machine employing a stitch-frame and a cloth-frame, a needle-bar having a needle, a tension device,

a pull-off mounted on said stitch-frame and coacting with the needle-thread, a rod connected with the said pull-off, a cam carried by said cloth-frame to engage the end of said rod and cause said pull-oft to act and pull the thread from said tension device when the rod connected with said pull-off is raised by said cam at a time when the needle-bar is elevated. 3. In a buttonhole-stitching machine,stitchforming mechanism, a tension device acting normally on the needle-thread, a pull-0E located between the needle-bar and tension device, rods connected with said pull-cit and tension device, a cam coacting with the ends of said rods to move the same and release the tension on the needle-frame at a predetermined timeand to thereafter immediately actuate the pull-oft to provide slack thread for the needle while the needle-bar is at rest and preparatory to being started to stitch a secon buttonhole.

4. In a sewing-machine, a cloth-frame, a needle-bar having an eye-pointed needle, a tension device, a pull-off engaging the needlethread between the needle-bar and tension device, means operating to release the tension device to permit the pull-oft to draw thread therethrough and to cause said pull-oft to draw thread from the tension device and hold it in the form of a loop while the needle-bar is elevated and the machine occupies its normal position of rest, the pull-cit giving up the thread to be drawn through the eye of the needle at the first descent of the needle-bar in making a first stitch said means including a cam carried by the said cloth-frame.

5. In a sewing-machine, a cloth-frame, a needle-bar having an eye-pointed needle, a tension device, a pull-oif engaging the needlethread between the needle'bar and tension device, a support for the needle-thread, and means comprising a cam carried by the clothfranie operating normally to release the tension device and also acting to cause said pulloff to draw thread from the tension device and hold it in the form of a loop while the needle-bar is elevated and the machine occupies its normal position of rest, the pull-ofi giving up the thread to be drawn through the eye of the needle at the first descent of the needle-bar in making a first stitch.

6. In a sewing-machine, the combination of a stitch-frame and a cloth-frame, a needle-bar having a needle, a tension device, a pull-oft mounted on said stitch-frame, a rod for re leasing the tension device, a rod connected with said pull-off, a cam carried by the clothframe to engage and move each of said rods to release the tension device and pull thread therethrough.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

JOHN E. DIMOND.

Witnesses:

GEO. W. GREGORY, GEO. H. MAXWELL. 

